I think it’s awesome you have taken such a careful approach to these arguments. It is clear you seek common ground rather than bragging rights, and I respect that.

As a theist, I would like to propose another possibility.  I’m still researching this bit so please bear with me as I might make some mistakes in fact. The overarching concept should be easy to grasp and isn’t super fact based at this level of development.

When the Bible was written in Hebrew, God had several names including Jehovah and Adonai. The English translations just turned a lot of those separate names into God. What if, everyone referred to as God, in the current Bible, is not the same entity, and therefore, some of them were created after others. So, now we have a hierarchy issue, as well as some possible imposters.  As a believer I was always troubled by the story in the garden. Once Adam and Eve eat the fruit, they cover themselves. When they hear “God” walking in the garden, they hide. He cannot find them, he has no knowledge of what they have done and, this is the big one for me, what he said would happen (they would die on the day they ate the fruit) does NOT come to pass.

Even more interesting, is what actually does happen. There eyes are opened and they become like “God” knowing the difference between good and evil, exactly what the snake said would happen.

Now, how my fellow Christians manage to ignore this obvious inconsistency, is beyond me, but I am very intrigued with the theories I am exploring, that delve into this.

Have you ever heard of any of this?  There is so much to discuss that neither side ever touches, which is absolutely fascinating to me. Lilith is rarely brought up, if God is perfect, why did it take two tries to make the right mate for Adam? The jealousy about other Gods, like, if you the big man in charge, how can you even feel jealous? And how did the angels even manage to make a stupid decision to go against God, knowing how much of a bad idea it was???

Interested to hear your thoughts, as most Christians I have access to are ABSOLUTELY not interested in going down this path with me. Cheers!